Childhood
by Qzil
Summary: Just because your childhood is over doesn't mean you have to leave it behind. At least, not forever. Oneshot.


_Kinda disjointed. I warned you. _

_Thanks to Blake Wilson for nit-picking this story for me. _

--

"Momma! Momma! Let's go in that store!"

A young girl with dark, curly hair and dark brown eyes tugs at her mother's sleeve as they pass a game store in the mall. The girl points at the window of the store where a giant poster with a dragon and a turtle with cannons in its shell in the window. The girl's mother turns her chocolate eyes to the storefront and sighs.

"Are you sure that's what you want for your birthday, Samantha? A toy that's meant for boys?"

The small girls nods, her dark eyes glowing. Her mother takes her into the store. Less than fifteen minutes later the girl and her mother leave the store, a bag clutched to her chest.

--

The girl sits in her room later on that night, tapping away at a light-purple Gameboy. She likes this one; she can see inside it.

Her mother made her wait to open her present until after dinner, since that was when her relatives left and she'd opened the rest of them. Quietly the girl opens the package and inserts the game cartridge. The box reads Pokémon Blue, she notices, as she tosses it aside in favor of the large blue cartridge she shoves into the slot.

The opening of the game trickles by slowly. Finally, it comes time to pick her starter. The girl sees a tiny dragon. The man in the lab coat says it's a Charmander. When she picks it, the man asks her to give the Pokémon a name. The girl thinks for a moment. There's nothing to indicate what gender the little fire lizard could possibly be, but a female name seems to suit the small creature.

"Momma!" she yells, "How do you spell 'Carol?'"

--

Time passes quickly in the magical land of pixels and Pokémon. Carol grows fast, evolving in what seems like almost no time to the girl. She's added others to her team. Her favorite new one is a Butterfree named Chad. She caught him as a little bug in the forest. Since then he and Carol have been her favorites.

Days, months, even years pass, and before the girl knows it she's beaten Team Rocket and the League many times over. She's become a master and she knows it. Other children around the neighborhood challenge her. She beats them all; Carol at the lead. A few boys tease her about Carol's name, saying that something as powerful as a Charizard is a boy. She scoffs and tells them that Carol is a girl, she just knows.

--

The new game comes out, and the girl is the first one on her street to have it. She flees up to her room, black curls bouncing, and tears open the package. The box is silver, reflecting the name of the new game. Her trusty purple Gameboy is by her side again as she sits on the plush carpet floor of the room. For the first time in forever she removes Blue from the slot.

"Mommy will see you soon, my babies," she mutters, kissing the game before setting it gently on her bed.

She inserts the silver cartridge and smiles as the game starts. Soon she needs to pick a starter. She stares, not sure to pick fire, water, or grass. Cyndaquil, Totodile, or Chikorita. She goes with fire again. She knows that path. Trusts that path. Her Cyndaquil is a boy. Unusual, she thinks, as the Pokemon looks so girlish. She names him Steve.

--

Steve grows quickly, as her last fire Pokémon did. She seems adept at handling the fire type. Steve is strong-willed, patient, and even-tempered with a strong, flared spirit. More Fire-types are added to her team as she travels the new region.

--

Children around the block no longer challenge her. They've all grown out of Pokémon by now. They call her childish names and taunt her. Some even try to steal her game. But the more they try to drive her away from her Pokémon, the more she clings to them. She cries to them, about them. To her they're real. They have personalities and lives and souls. They're her children.

--

Soon she can bring her babies to the new game. Blue earns a place on her dresser while Silver takes its place in the Gameboy. Chad, Carol, and Steve have a permanent place on her team.

--

When her parents separate, she cries to them, babbling as the game screen glows. Somewhere, someone whispers to her.

"_It's okay, mommy. We're here for you."_

--

She begins to draw her children. As Pokémon. As anthros. As humans. First she draws Carol. As a human she sees her as a young girl. Curly red hair falls to her waist, held up by clips and bands. Her skin is tan, as if she's an islander. The only part of the girl that her fictional daughter has is her eyes. They're dark. Dark brown. So dark they're almost black.

--

Years pass before the new generation of games is released: Ruby and Sapphire. They name the two new ones after gems. She picks Ruby, the fire gem, over Sapphire.

Surprisingly she picks the water starter, Mudkip, thinking her inner fire has died a bit now that she is nearing the end of high school. Happy with this new Mudkip, a female named Jilliah, she begins a new adventure.

--

Older now. The taunts don't affect her so much anymore. The fact she can't bring her first babies with her into Ruby, and later Emerald, hurts her more than any of the bullying.

--

"I'm so nervous, guys," she babbles, walking around her room. "I can't believe I have a date."

She honestly doesn't expect her Pokémon to answer her. Not in a way others can hear them, anyway.

"I know, Carol, I know. I shouldn't be nervous or anything." She pauses. "No, mommy's not giving you a human brother or sister."

--

Next time she draws Carol, the Charizard's become older. A teenager. She's lost her girlish cuteness and is developing a hard, feminine beauty. She, unlike so many other girls, doesn't straighten her hair at that age. Her curls are wild, like a fire, and untamable.

--

She knows Diamond and Pearl will come out soon. And, at the same time, she doesn't really care. Her Pokémon are part of her childhood, and with college right around the corner, that part of her is over.

--

Slowly, the girl stares at her games, lined up on her dresser. There are boxes in her room. Everything is packed for college; for her life as an adult. She bows her head and closes her eyes.

"I love you guys," she whispers.

"...And I'm sorry."

--

"Samantha! We have to leave soon!" her mother yells. The girl looks at her mother, who has aged so much since that day in the mall. She smiles.

"I have to go somewhere first."

--

Slowly, the girl drives her car through the town. She sees a box near the local church, one reading, "Toys for goodwill" in scraggly cursive.

She gets out of her car and kneels in front of the box, reaching in her purse. Slowly, she takes out a stack of games, a purple see-through Gameboy, and a light-blue SP out of her purse, all bound together with a rubber band. And, even slower, she leaves them in the box. Because she's all grown up now, and she doesn't need them anymore.

--

"Momma! Momma! Did you really play Pokémon too when you were my age?"

The girl, now a woman, stares at her daughter. She pats the girl's red curls and smiles, staring into her dark eyes.

"Yes, Carol, I really did."


End file.
